Doctors and ‘Dolly Birds’ – Remembering Barry Evans (1943 – 1997)

Posted in Blog, Remember by - Mar 10, 2014
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Doctors and ‘Dolly Birds’ – Remembering Barry Evans (1943 – 1997)

Although he would never be regarded as one of British cinemas leading actors, from the late Sixties until the early Eighties, the cheerful and extremely amiable Barry Evans was very popular in both television and cinema. He may not have been a great actor, but he was however very natural, and his friendly persona has endeared him to many people over the years.

Born in Surrey, on June 18th, 1943, Evans was abandoned as a baby, and grew up in an orphanage. He showed an early interest for acting, and in his teens attended the Italia Conti Academy in London, before …

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And Then There Were Nine – Rediscovering ‘Nine Guests for a Crime’ (Italy 1977 – 88 mins)

Posted in Blog, Rediscover by - Mar 06, 2014
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And Then There Were Nine – Rediscovering ‘Nine Guests for a Crime’ (Italy 1977 – 88 mins)

A pretty good tropical take on Agatha Christie’s ‘Ten Little Indians’, the Italian thriller ‘Nine Guests for a Crime’ is one of the better 70’s giallos. Featuring some fairly gory killings, familiar female nudity, and the usual, mysterious black-gloved stalker, it moves along at a reasonable pace, and has a pretty decent pay-off.

A bickering, upper-class family are being killed off one by one at their Mediterranean retreat, by a mysterious assassin. Does it have something to do with the usual greed for inheritance, or does it go back to a ruthless shooting committed by family members some 20 years prior? …

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The Path Well Travelled – Rediscovering ‘The Road Home’ (China 1999 – 89 mins)

Posted in Blog, Rediscover by - Mar 05, 2014
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The Path Well Travelled – Rediscovering ‘The Road Home’ (China 1999 – 89 mins)

A simple yet effective tale of true love, the 1999 Chinese drama ‘The Road Home’, is one of cinemas most visually pleasing movies. With its beautiful, sweeping score and outstanding cinematography, it’s impossible not to be swept away by this timeless, universal story.

While visiting his elderly mother for the funeral of his father, a son recalls how his parents first met and fell in love many years before, when she was a poor country girl, and he the new village teacher. The movie flashes back many years ago to rural China, and tells how the parent’s relationship gradually developed, from …

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No Place Like Home – Rediscovering ‘Ma and Pa Kettle’ (US 1949 – 75 mins)

Posted in Blog, Rediscover by - Mar 04, 2014
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No Place Like Home – Rediscovering ‘Ma and Pa Kettle’ (US 1949 – 75 mins)

Movies featuring large families have been a domestic comedy staple for many years. Good examples have been 1950’s popular ‘Cheaper by the Dozen’, and 1968’s excellent ‘Yours, Mine and Ours’.

‘Ma and Pa Kettle’ is a cosy, comedy sequel to the hugely popular ‘fish-out-of-water’ film; ‘The Egg and I’ (’47), which first featured the over-sized and unruly Kettle family. ‘Ma and Pa Kettle’ was the first of nine ‘Kettle’ comedies, all of varying quality. Each movie was made watchable though, by both Percy Kilbride and Marjorie Main’s finely honed performances, as the lovable hillbilly parents of 15 children.

In the first of …

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Richard Haydn (1905 – 1985)

Posted in Blog, Rewind by - Mar 03, 2014
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Richard Haydn (1905 – 1985)

Possessing one of Hollywood’s greatest faces, the wonderfully eccentric, British born actor Richard Haydn, also owned one of its most recognisable voices. In a very distinctive manner, as if talking through his nose, his characters would quite often appear comically pompous, even in more serious productions.

Born George Richard Haydn in London, on March 10th, 1905, Richard had first gained some fame on the radio, when he created the character of Edwin Carp, a boorish fish expert with a nasally voice. His distinct persona soon brought him to the attention of 20th Century Fox, who signed Richard after arriving in Hollywood …

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Blood of the Innocent – Rediscovering ‘Vampyres’ (UK 1974 – 88 mins)

Posted in Blog, Rediscover by - Feb 27, 2014
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Blood of the Innocent – Rediscovering ‘Vampyres’ (UK 1974 – 88 mins)

Made at a time when the Hammer Studios were still putting out their own vampire flicks, Spanish director José Ramón Larraz’s 1974 ‘Vampyres’, must have come as a bit of a shock. A full-on, blood-soaked horror, with abundant nudity, it’s an in-your-face shocker, impressively shot and occasionally dreamlike.

Hidden deep within the English countryside, Fran and Miriam, two beautiful, bisexual vampires, lure innocent victims to their country manor for orgies of sex, before finally killing them. After dispatching with a rich playboy, their next, unsuspecting targets appear to be a young holidaying couple, John and Harriet, who unfortunately make the …

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Home Alone? – Rediscovering ‘The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (Canada 1976 – 94 mins)

Posted in Blog, Rediscover by - Feb 26, 2014
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Home Alone? – Rediscovering ‘The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (Canada 1976 – 94 mins)

Based on the 1974 novel by Laird Koenig, the engrossing 1976 mystery; ‘The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane’, is a true one-off. It feels very much like a stage piece, with its mostly house-bound setting, and minimal characters. Yet it grips from the start, with its top grade stars, well written screenplay and autumnal atmosphere, this makes for a decent Halloween chiller.

Thirteen year old loner, Rynn Jacobs, lives with her poet father Lester, in an isolated, rented house, in a quiet coastal community. Visitors to the home are always told that her father is either away or busy …

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Remembering E.G. Marshall (1914 – 1998)

Posted in Blog, Remember by - Feb 25, 2014
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Remembering E.G. Marshall (1914 – 1998)

With a career spanning more than fifty years, the stern, serious looking, but quite brilliant E.G. Marshall, seemed to spend most of his on-screen career in and around courtrooms. A noted Broadway actor, he was also, in 1948, among the first band of actors to be given membership to Elia Kazan’s Actors Studio, (along with Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift).

Born Everett Eugene Grunz, on June 18th 1914, E.G Marshall began his screen career with bit parts in mainly film noirs before coming to prominence playing a prosecutor in the first-rate 1954 Humphrey Bogart movie ‘The Caine Mutiny’. He was …

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On the Ege of stardom – Remembering Julie Ege (1943 – 2008)

Posted in Blog, Remember by - Feb 24, 2014
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On the Ege of stardom – Remembering Julie Ege (1943 – 2008)

Hammer starlet and one time Bond girl, Julie Ege, enjoyed a relatively short career during the early seventies. Her perfect figure and jovial manner kept her busy on both screen and in magazines, which included layouts in many publications, from Photoplay to Penthouse.

Born in Oslo, Norway, on November 12th 1943, Julie was only 19 when she was crowned Miss Norway. In 1967 she had a small part as a German masseuse in the Norwegian film; ‘The Sky and the Ocean’, then a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it part in Peter Yate’s excellent crime pic; ‘Robbery’ (’67). After being one of Blofeld’s Angels of Death …

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“Salem come to supper” – Rediscovering ‘The Night Visitor’ (Swe/Den 1971 – 106 mins)

Posted in Blog, Rediscover by - Feb 22, 2014
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“Salem come to supper” – Rediscovering ‘The Night Visitor’ (Swe/Den 1971 – 106 mins)

‘If your skin doesn’t crawl, it’s on too tight!’

Produced by famed actor Mel Ferrer, the excellent gothic thriller ‘The Night Visitor’, is one of the Seventies most atmospheric films. With its snowy landscapes and harsh icy winds, you can practically feel the freezing temperature just watching it.

The engrossing story has a man; Salem, wrongly imprisoned in an asylum, for an axe murder he didn’t commit. Knowing that it was his sister and her husband who were responsible, the wronged man plots both his escape and revenge. He works out how to break out of his cell, seek vengeance, then …

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